/Pogled.info/ The Albanian question was never purely Balkan: it was always considered by the leading countries through the prism of their own interests. The recent clashes between Serbs and soldiers of KFOR and the Kosovo Special Forces ROSU in the Serbian municipalities of the “Republic of Kosovo” have revealed many interested in the “final solution” of the Serbian question.
The struggle of “bulldogs under the carpet” continues. Also, Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, is trying to play an independent game. The other day he said that “US and EU representatives Gabriel Escobar and Miroslav Lajcak are coming out with Belgrade’s demands.” US Ambassador to Serbia Christopher Hill admitted: “Kurti and I have very fundamental problems, I’m not sure we can count on to him as a partner. “
Has the shadow stopped listening to its master? Or is the master somewhere else and invisible?
The development of Albanian nationalism is usually associated with the name of S. Frasheri. In the book “Albania – what it was, what it is and what it will be” (1899), he recorded the principle: “Besa (1), religion, work, care, our desire, our thought, let them be for and in the name of Albania and in the name of the Albanian nation”. However, it is important to understand who is behind Frasheri and other Albanian intellectuals today; who and why contributed to the formation of the Albanian identity and was interested in the creation of an Albanian state.
The documents from the Viennese archives of the dynasty, the court and the state, published by the Bulgarian historian Teodora Toleva (2), are a clear testimony of the active participation of the ruling circles of Austria-Hungary in the creation of the Albanian question. Of course, not only Vienna, but also the Vatican, Rome, Berlin from the end of the 19th century. were creating the Albanian nation, but the Austro-Hungarian project is interesting for its strategic developments.
From November to December 1896, three secret conferences were held in Vienna under the chairmanship of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Count A.M. Golukhovski (junior), devoted to the Albanian question. The memoranda of the meetings fixed the main objective of the empire: the Albanian territories with Catholic and Muslim populations “not to come under the influence of another great power, but to unite in a new principality under Austrian protectorate.”
The aspiration of Austria-Hungary not to fall under the control of Russia “iron hoop” determines the multi-vector policy towards the Albanians – this Balkan policy “a nation of tribes.” At the end of the 19th century, the Albanian population did not represent a national community, it consisted of warring tribes of Gegi (mostly Catholic) and Tosk (mostly Muslim). At the time when Vienna was developing a strategy to penetrate this part of the Balkans, these tribes had no sense of common political affiliation or common interests.
In addition to different religions, there was considerable difference in dialects and writing: the Toscians used the Greek alphabet; The Gegs write in Latin. On the question of “gathering” the Albanian nation and using it as its agent in the Balkans, Vienna used the antagonism between Orthodox and Muslims. This is reflected in the perception of the Toscans – Albanians from the Habsburg Monarchy as their natural allies and patrons in the fight against Russia and the Serbs.
Of course, there is no need to simplify: the Orthodox Albanians (there were many of them) gravitated towards Greece, but they were in a clear minority against the background of the union of Catholics and Muslims. The creation of such a union when “Catholic and Muslim Albanians embrace each other like brothers in a fit of hatred for everything Slavic” and “they equally persecute the hated Slavs”, in the conditions of two world wars led to the genocide of the Serbs,
The development of the Albanian language and education system allowed Vienna to drive a wedge between Serbia and Montenegro, creating an independent Albania. The “soft power” of Austria-Hungary becomes, if not decisive, then one of the determining factors for approaching the “point of no return”.
The overthrow of Sultan Abdul-Hamid II in 1908 and the convening of the first Albanian National Congress in Bitola played into Vienna’s hands. The uprising that began two years later set itself the goal of obtaining autonomy, and in November 1912, a congress of representatives of various tribes and layers of Albanian society in Vlora proclaimed Albania an independent state. The “Viennese recipe” for reshaping the Balkan space was well calibrated and well financed. This determined his success.
In 1903, Albanian language courses were started at the National Institute of Oriental Languages in Vienna. The founders of Albanianology are the Austrian N. Jokl (1877-1942) and the Hungarian F.N. Fogg Felso-Svilas (1877-1933). By the way, the first Institute of Albanian Studies was opened not in Albania, but in Pristina in 1953.
The specialized boarding schools for teacher training in Klagenfurt and at the Catholic Teachers’ University in Wehring (Vienna’s 18th district) contributed to the achievement of the goals of the imperial government. After training, Austrophile cadres go to schools in Prizren, Durres and Scutari. Such a system of education made it possible to move to the next stage – the transformation of the Catholic junior high schools of Northern Albania into national ones through the transition from Italian to Albanian. In parallel, German language courses were introduced.
Pro-Austrian Albanian newspapers and magazines were generously funded. The most influential among them are: “Albania” magazine, published first in Brussels, then in London; newspaper “Drita”, founded in Sofia and published in the alphabet of the Frasheri brothers, popular among most Albanians, newspaper “Besa” (printed in Cairo). These newspapers had a significant impact on Albanian public opinion with their strongly nationalist agenda.
Vienna also supported the publication of educational, historical and literary works in the Albanian language. Until 1905, with the funds and under the censorship of G. Kyrias, the two-volume “History of Albania” and “History of Turkey” by N. Nikaya, a geography textbook, an anthology of stories, poems and songs by G. Kyrias were published; textbooks for learning the Albanian language. All Vienna-funded literature is smuggled into Albanian lands and, as a rule, distributed free of charge.
It is worth paying attention to the publication of the map of Albania by T. Spiro: the maps visually fix the territorial boundaries for each community. The spread of maps with still foreign territories, but on paper already included on the map as a logo, had a stronger impact than nationalist literature.
By the way, modern maps of “Greater Albania”, including all territories inhabited by Albanians (Albania, Kosovo, Western Macedonia (Illyrida), South-Eastern Montenegro (Malaysia), North-Western Greece (Chameria), are printed not only in Tirana, but also in Frankfurt am Main.
On the one hand, Albania and the Albanians were used as a barrier against the movement of Greater Serbia and its closely allied Russia. On the other hand, it is a means of preventing Italy from setting foot on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. This approach fits into the concept of Realpolitik, that is understandable, which cannot be said about the politics of the Yugoslav leadership after 1945.
Josip Broz Tito seriously improved the “Vienna recipe”, adding to it a ban on returning Serbs to their places of original residence on the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, and separated this part of the Serbian land into a separate political-territorial unit (since 1945 – Kosovo – Metochia region, from 1963 – end). This completely disrupted the demographic and socio-cultural balance in this part of the Balkans.
The consequences are now irreversible. In the short term, the Balkans can become an independent focus of conflicts and even an occasion for larger confrontations. The Albanian issue is once again central to the European agenda: the visible owner is playing with the invisible one.
(1) Besa – oath of allegiance that every full member of the Albanian community/clan takes in front of his comrades.
(2) Toleva T. Austria-Hungary and the Formation of the Albanian Nation. M., 2018.
Translation: SM
Subscribe to our YouTube channel:
Log in directly to the site https://www.pogled.info . Share on your profiles, with friends, in groups and on pages. In this way, we will overcome the limitations, and people will be able to reach the alternative point of view on the events!?
Become a friend of Look.info on facebook and recommend to your friends
